Automatic gas shut-off.



F. A. PIOKETT. AUTOMATIC GAS SHUT-OFF.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 20, 1914.

1,132,1 15. Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

F. A. PIUKETT.

AUTOMATIC GAS SHUT-OFF. APPLICATION IiLED FEB.20,1914.

1, 1 32, 1 1 5, Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

THE NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHGTO-LITHDH WASHINGTON. D. t

F. A. PIGKETT.

AUTOMATIC GAS SHUT-OFF.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 20, 1914.

gwuv/wbom F. /l Pic/(eff Patented Mar 16, 1915 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

L I EL 5 THE NORRIS PETERS CO.. PH OTWLITHOH WASHlNuiuh. 0. c

FREDERICK A. PICKETT, 0F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

AUTOMATIC GAS SHUT-OFF.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

Application filed February 20, 1914. Serial No. 820,038.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRnnnRroK A. PICK- ETT, acitizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore, in the State ofMaryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in AutomaticGas Shut-Offs; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

The primary object of this invention is to provide an automatic timecontrolled mechanism for operating gas cocks to shut off the flow of gasafter a predetermined interval of time.

The invention is designed especially for use in connection with tankwater heaters where a gas flame is utilized to heat the water and whereit is usually desirable to have this flame burn only long enough to heata definite quantity of water, such as ten, twenty, or thirty gallons.

My invention is of simple and practical construction and consistsessentially of time controlled mechanism which may be set to operateafter the gas has been burning any desired length of time and whichreleases a spring actuated stop cock, allowing said cock to close andcut off the flow of gas.

WVith these and other objects in view as will become more apparent asthe descrip tion proceeds, the invention consists in certain novelfeatures of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as willbe hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

For a complete understanding of my invention, reference is to be had tothe following description and accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1is a front elevation of the mechanism, showing the gas cook in itsopened position. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of my automatic shut-0Emechanism, showing the same in position after having released the springactuated cock, Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the time releasingmechanism, Fig. 4: is a side elevation, illustrating the time controlledreleasing mechanism, Fig. 5 is a detail perspective View of a member tobe hereinafter more fully described, and Fig. 6 is an enlarged detailview, partly in section on the plane of line 6-6 of Fig. 2.

Referring in detail to the drawings by numerals, l designates a verticalgas pipe having a valve casing 2 secured to the upper end thereof inwhich operates a rotatable plug valve 8, having a port 4 which, whenarranged 1n a horizontal plane, cuts ofi' the flow of gas. The cock isprovided on one end with a handle 5 by which it may be turned againstthe tension of the spring 6 into open position. One end of this spiralspring 1s secured to the valve, as indicated by the numeral 7 and theother end is secured to a bracket 8 connected to the valve casing 2, andthe spring is so arranged as to hold the valve normally closed. A transverse plate 9 is secured to one side of the handle 5 adjacent its innerend, and when swung into a vertical plane, may be brought into lockingengagement with a latch 10, having an inwardly facing shoulder 11. Thelatch is pivotally secured at one end to the bracket 8 by a suitablepivotal connect on 12 and is held normally in a raised position by aWire spring 13 connected at one end to the bracket and at its other orouter end to the latch by a suitable fastener 14. When the latch 10 isin its normal raised position, the plate 9 may be engaged lockingly withthe shoulder 11 by turning the cock in a clockwise direction against thetension of the spring 6.

The time controlled trip and alarm mech anism is housed within a casing15 of any suitable construction, having a top wall 16, bottom wall 17,front wall 18 and rear wall 19, the latter carrying a strap 20 whichenclrcles the pipe 1. Of course it will be understood that any meansother than the strap 20 may be provided for supporting or securlngthe-casing in proper position below the valve. The time controlledmechanism is a modified form of the ordinary clock mechanism and henceonly those parts thereof which differ from the standard clockconstruction will be described in detail. Nithin the cylindrical casing21 is secured a frame 22 which supports the modified clock mechanism.This mechanismincludes a main shaft 23 which corresponds to one of thehand carrying shafts of a clock, and having an ordinary friction clutch,(not shown) and which is driven by the usual coil spring 24 andescapement gears and mechanisms which it is not thought necessary toillustrate as they are identical with that of the ordinary clock.

The main spring 24: is secured to a winding shaft 25 which projectsrearwardly through the case andca-rries a "turning" handle 26.

The alarm mechanlsm comprises. a. coil spring 27 secured at one end to awinding shaft 28 which may be turned by a pin or handle 29. The spring,in unwinding drives throughthe' medium of the gears 30 and 31 anescapement wheel 32, the teeth33 of which oscillate a pallet 34 rigidlysecured to a shaft 35. A clapper 3,6 is also rigidly secured to theshaft 35 and, whenactuated,

ringsa bell 37, as will be clearly understood.

The pallet 34 may be locked against move- '1 the pallet34 stationary andstoppingthees capement Wheel 32. The plate 38 is mounts,

ed. on a stud 41 carried. by the frame 22 and carries an arm 42 whichextends into en.- gagement with a collar 43 carriedon the. the shaft 23.A spring 44 is secured at one end to the frame 22 by the fastener 45 andforcesthe arm 42 toward, the collar 43, and when this arm is inengagementwith thecollar, the finger 39 is located in the path of thearm. 40.

The collar 43 is provided with a. pin 46 and when this pin is carried bythe rotation of the shaft 23 into engagement with the arm 42, the latteris swung away from the shaft to bring the ,finger 39 from the path. ofthe arm 40.

The shaft 23 drives through the medium of suitable gears 47 and 48, andindicator shaft 49 journaled through a U-shaped bracket 50 connected tothe frame 42 by a screw .51. The shaft 49. projects at right anglestothe shaft 23 andv extends through the front wall 18 of the case 15. Apointer 52 isrigidly secured to the shaft 49 adjacent its outer end, andswings around a dial plate .53 which is graduated to indicate, gallons-The shaft. 49 may be manually turned,

topositionthe pointer at any place desired by a'wing nut 54 secured toits outer end.

To..th e side wall 55 of the case 21, a lever 56 is pivotally secured bya suitable fastener 57. The pivot point is intermediate the shafts'25and 28 and the lever extends over the former andunder the latter. It ispreferably formed of fiat, metal and. hasits outer end portion turnedthrough an angle of ninety degrees, as indicated. by the numeral 58,and. formed. with an aperture 59. A connect-ing rod-60 extends from thefree end. of the latch 10 downwardly through the opening 59- and carriesa. collar 61' which is positioned under the lever 56 to be engagedthereby; It will be apparent that when the outer turned end. of; thelever is swung downwardly, the connecting. rod will bepulleddownwardlytodisengage the latch 10-1from-the plate 9 ofthe spring" pressed coc r.

The: lever .56 isaetuat'edby a spiral cam 62 rigidly secured to theshaft 28 of the alarmmechanism. The cam is formed by coiling a strip offlat metal spirally and the lever 56 carries a laterally projecting pin63 which projects .into the coils of the cam, so that as the latter isrotated, the pin will be moved toward or away from. the shaft28,.thedi-rection being dependent; upon thedirection of rotation.Whenthe alarm goes off,.the camv 62 rotates in a clockwise. directionand drawsthe pin 63 to theposition shown in. Fig. 2, causing the outerend thereof to be swungdownwardly and lower the connecting rod 60 torelease. the pawllO from the plate 9.

The shaft 25 of the main spring 24 isprovided with a spiral cam 64 whichmoves a pin 65. rigidly secured to a tube 66. .The connectingrod 6Qextendsginto the topof the tube through an, opening 67 and carries acollar 68 which isengaged by the upper end wall of the tube when the mamspring is completely unwound. v

Having. described the construction of'my automatic shut-off mechanism, Iwill nowexplain the operation thereof: Supposing the main spring 24 andthe alarm spring 27 to be wound, the lever 56 would then be in theposition, shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2. If it be desired to havethe gas burn long enough to heat, for example, ten 7 gallons of water,the wing nut or handle. 54 is turned to rotate the shaft 49 and bringthe pointer 52 to the tenth, graduation. Thisrotation of the shaft-49turnstheshaft 23 through the medium of the gears 47 and, 48 to swing thepin 46 into about the. position shown in Fig. .4. The gas cock. 4 is.then turned to its open position, bringing the plate ,9. into lockingengagement with the elevatedpawl 10. Theclockmechanism actuated by thespring. 24, will slowly re.-

volve the shaft 23 in a clockwise direction, and whenjthe shaft has beenturnedto bring the pointer. 52 to zero position,.the pin 46 will haveengaged the arm 42. of-the oscillatory plate 38, swinging the finger:39. of said plate from :the path of thearm 40. This movementof theplate38 releases the alarm,

mechanisnnso. that the, bell 37 is sounded and thespring27 allowedtorapidly uncoil which turns thev shaft 28 and therefore the cam 62rigid. therewith. The cam turnsin a clockwise. direction, causing theouterend of the lever 56 to swingfdownwardly into engagement with thecollar 61 andpull the connecting roda60 downwardly to. swing the pawl 10from. engagementwith the plate 9.

From the foregoing. it will beappaiwnt that I have provided-asimpleftime operated mechanism for releasing a spring actuated valveafter any predetermined. interval. of.

time has elapsed. After each operation of the alarm and releasemechanism, it is necessary to rewind the spring 27 to allow the springpressed latch 10 to return to its normal position, said movement beingpossible only when the cam 62 is turned so as to raise the free end ofthe lever 56. The cam 64 prevents the cock being locked in open positionwhen the main spring is completely unwound by drawing the tube 66downwardly against the collar 68 and lowering the connecting rod 60.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, it will be understood that minor changes in construction andarrangement of parts may be made without departing from the scope andspirit of the invention as claimed. It is to be also understood that thetime mechanism may be employed for purposes other than the onespecifically referred to and illustrated.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In a valve operatingdevice, the combination of a lock member, a lock releasing lever, aconnecting rod, said lock releasing lever being connected with theconnecting rod, said connecting rod being connected with the lockmember, to move the latter to inoperative position upon the operation ofthe releasing lever, and means for locking the connecting rod againstmovement in one direction.

2. In a valve operating device, the combination of a valve engaging lockmember, a depending rod connected with said lock member, a leverconnected with said rod for drawing the latter in one direction to movethe lock member to inoperative position, and means for locking said rodagainst movement in the reverse direction.

3. In a valve operating device, the com bination of a lock member, meansfor resiliently retaining said lock member in operative position, a rodconnected with said lock member for moving the latter to inoperativeposition, means for moving the rod in one direction, a time trainincluding a main spring, and means controlled thereby for preventing thereturn of the rod and lock member toward normal position when the mainspring is substantially run down.

4:. In a time controlled valve operating device, a time train includinga main spring and arbor, a cam thereon, an alarm train including analarm arbor, means controlled by the time train for releasing the alarmtrain, a cam on the alarm arbor, a valve controlling rod, a leverconnected with said valve controlling rod and operated normally by thecam on the alarm arbor, the rod being controlled by the cam on the mainspring arbor for preventing movement toward setting position of thevalve controlling rod when the main spring is substantially unwound.

5. In a time controlled valve operating device, a time train including amain spring and arbor, an alarm train including an alarm arbor, meanscontrolled by the time train for releasing the alarm train, a valvecontrolling rod operated normally by the alarm arbor, and meanscontrolled by the main spring arbor for preventing movement towardsetting position of the valve controlling rod when the main spring issubstantially unwound.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FREDERICK A. PIOKETT.

Witnesses:

H. B. Pronnr'r, JOHN F. WARNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner or Iatents. Washington, D. 0.

